The House of Israel is a Jewish community located in southwestern Ghana, in the towns of Sefwi Wiawso and Sefwi Sui. This group of people, of the Sefwi tribe, built a synagogue in 1998. Many of the men and children read English, but no one knows Hebrew.[2][3]
The people of Sefwi Wiawso trace a call for a "return" to normative Judaism by Aaron Ahomtre Toakyirafa, a community leader who, in 1976, is said to have had a vision. In 2012, Gabrielle Zilkha, a Toronto-based filmmaker, visited Sefwe Wiawso to do research for a documentary about the House of Israel she is making. According to Zilkha, about 200 people—mostly children—live in the community. She states that the lack of a historical record makes it difficult to verify the group's claims, but that there is an oral tradition dating back 200 years.[1]
In the 1990s, the House of Israel began to reach out to the wider Jewish world. The community worked with Jewish organizations such as Kulanu and Be'chol Lashon.[4]
A smaller community of Jews from the House of Israel lives in Sefwi Sui, a small farming community located twenty miles from Sefwi Wiawso.[5]
Jewish facilities
The leader of the House of Israel since 1993, David Ahenkorah received his own vision in taking up the mantle.[6] He has been granted a 40-acre plot of land to build a Jewish school for the community, but they have not yet been able to raise funds for construction. Children currently attend a local school, run by Christians. They built a synagogue in 1998 in New Adiembra, a Jewish neighborhood in Sefwi Wiawso. Recently, they painted it blue and white, colors commonly associated with Judaism.[6] There are several family compounds nearby and about 200 people belong to the synagogue.[6] It is a single-room synagogue with a miniature Sefer Torah. There is no mechitza.[7][8]
